ANTI-TELENGANA AGITATION

VISAKHAPATNAM/HYDERABAD: Defying shoot-at-sight orders and a curfew, anti-bifurcation protesters on Sunday hit the streets in Vizianagaram town and other parts of the district and clashed with the police.

Police fired rubber bullets at Kothapeta area on the outskirts of the town to disperse the stone-pelting protesters, and used batons against a mob in Palliveedhi area.

Satyna Engineering College, run by family members of the Andhra Pradesh Congress chief B Satyanarayana, at Gajularega on the outskirts of Vizianagaram, was also targeted.

The agitators were not deterred by the curfew and the shoot-at-sight orders issued to police on Saturday night.

Some protesters were taken into custody, police said. The curfew was imposed in the town in the wake of large-scale violence on Saturday.

Vizianagaram, a town in coastal Andhra, has been on the boil since the Union Cabinet's October 3 decision to create the state of Telangana out of the state of Andhra Pradesh.

"Lot of violence was reported, with the protesters indulging in arson, looting shops, setting a bank on fire, and damaging public and private properties. In view of the violence, authorities ordered a curfew late last night," Dwaraka Tirumala Rao, IGP (North Coastal Zone), told PTI.

The 48-hour bandh called by Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers Association got over on Saturday night. The situation in Seemandhra, overall, was under control, the IGP said.

In Vizianagaram, protesters have been targeting the properties of Satyanarayana and his family members over the last two days. They also burned vehicles, set fire to the district cooperative central bank, a college and cable network run by Satyanarayna's family members.

In a pitched battle between police and protesters, nearly two dozen police personnel, including Vizianagaram DSP Krishna Prasanna, sustained injuries on Saturday.